1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a coin dispensing apparatus and more particularly, to a coin dispensing apparatus configured by driving a plurality of coin dispensing units with a common or single driving device, in which each of the coin dispensing units is capable of dropping randomly-stored coins into respective apertures of a rotary disk one by one, and sending the coins thus dropped in the apertures toward the circumference of the disk one by one at a predetermined position.
The term “coin” used in this specification means not only coins as currency in Japan, United States, Europe and so on but also tokens such as medals or the like as a substitute of currency.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the first prior art technique for the present invention, a coin processing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Non-Examined Patent Publication No. 8-320961 published in 1996 is known. This prior-art coin processing apparatus comprises a coin receiving section for receiving and temporarily storing inputted coins of a plurality of denominations; a coin transporting section for separating the coins inputted into the coin receiving section from each other and transporting the coins thus separated along a coin passage; a coin discriminating section, provided at an inlet section of the coin passage, for discriminating true coins and false ones from the coins thus transported and the denominations of the true coins; a coin selecting section, provided at the bottom of the coin passage, for selecting the coins transported in the coin passage by dropping downward the coins at different positions according to the denominations; a coin storing section for storing the coins that have been selected by the coin selecting section for each denomination; a coin dispensing section, provided at the bottom of the coin storing section, for dispensing the coins stored in the coin storing section one by one; a coin dispensing driving section for driving the coin dispensing section; and a horizontal coin transporting section for horizontally transporting the coins dispensed from the coin dispensing section toward the side of the coin receiving section.
The coin dispensing driving section is provided to be apart from the coin dispensing section at a predetermined distance, a power transmission means for transmitting a driving power is provided between the coin dispensing driving section and the coin dispensing section, and the horizontal coin transporting section is located in a space formed between the coin dispensing driving section and the coin dispensing section. (See Paragraph 0057 and FIG. 2.)
As the second prior art technique for the present invention, a coin dispensing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Non-Examined Patent Publication No. 2007-200369 published in 2007 is known. This prior-art coin dispensing apparatus comprises two coin hoppers, which are arranged laterally, for dispensing coins one by one by rotary disks; a common dispensing passage, which extends vertically between the coin hoppers, for guiding the coins dispensed from the coin hoppers; a common driving motor for rotating the disks; and a transmission device for selectively connecting the driving motor to one of the rotating disks. (See Paragraphs 0078 to 0123 and FIGS. 16 to 25.)
As the third prior art technique for the present invention, a safe apparatus configured to be detachably attached to a charging device such as an onboard ticket issuing system disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2514825 published in 1996 is known. This prior-art safe apparatus comprises a chamber for receiving sales coins such as 50 yen and 500 yen which are selected from inserted coins by users through a coin inlet of the charging device; two hoppers for storing prepared coins of two denominations such as 10 yen and 100 yen which are selected from the inserted coins per denomination, wherein slits are provided for discharging the prepared coins thus stored on one side of the bottom of each hopper; rotary plates supported by the bottom of each hopper to be rotatable along predetermined directions, wherein each plate has circular depressed coin saucers arranged at a predetermined pitch circumferentially and wherein each coin saucer has a gap formed in such a way as to be matched to a corresponding one of the slits whenever the coins saucer is rotated by a predetermined angle; and a rotation force transmitting means having a rotation axis rotatable in both forward and reverse directions, wherein the rotation force transmitting means transmits a rotation force of a driving source in such a way as to rotate one of the rotation plates when the rotation axis is rotated in the forward direction and to rotate the other of the rotation plates when the rotation axis is rotated in the reverse direction.
When the gap of the coin saucer is accorded with the corresponding slit due to the rotation of the rotary plates, the prepared coins placed on the coin saucer are taken out through the slit. (See Column 3, Line 34 to Column 4, Line 30 and FIGS. 1 to 3.)
With the coin processing apparatus as the first prior art technique disclosed in Japanese Non-Examined Patent Publication No. 8-320961, the coin dispensing section comprises coin dispensing circular plates having coin dispensing holes. The coin dispensing plates are respectively rotated in the forward directions by individual driving motors by way of the power transmitting means. The coins are dropped in the coin dispensing holes by the forward rotation of the plates and separated from each other, thereby dispensing a predetermined number of the coins of the predetermined denominations.
Accordingly, with the coin processing apparatus as the first prior art technique, it is necessary to provide a driving motor for each of the coin dispensing plates. This arises a problem that the apparatus is enlarged and the fabrication cost is raised.
With the coin dispensing apparatus as the second prior art technique disclosed in Japanese Non-Examined Patent Publication No. 2007-200369, the coin hoppers for dispensing the coins are provided for the respective denominations. The rotary disks of these coin hoppers are rotated in the forward direction by the common driving motor to thereby drop the coins in the penetrating holes of the disks. In this way, the coins are separated from each other and a predetermined number of the coins of the predetermined denominations are dispensed.
However, the rotation of the common driving motor is transmitted to the rotary disks by way of clutches, and the disk of the coin hopper corresponding to a predetermined denomination is selectively rotated in the forward direction. Thus, a predetermined number of the coins of the predetermined denominations are dispensed by switching the clutches. In other words, in the case where the coins of a plurality of denominations are dispensed, the coins of one denomination is dispensed and thereafter, the next coin dispensing process is carried out. In this way, the coin dispensing operations for the plurality of denominations are performed in series.
As a result, with the coin dispensing apparatus as the second prior art technique, there is a problem that a predetermined number of the coins of the predetermined denominations are unable to be dispensed quickly.
With the safe apparatus as the third prior art technique disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2514825, the rotary plates are arranged at the bottoms of the cylindrical hoppers, and the coins are separated and dispensed one by one by the rotation of these plates. Two of the safe apparatuses are combined to form a pair. Bevel gear are fixed to the common rotational shaft to be rotated by the driving motor are respectively meshed or engaged with bevel gears connected to the plates. Thus, the plates are configured to be rotated by the rotation of the rotational shaft by way of the bevel gears. In addition, a one-way clutch is provided between the rotational shaft and one of the bevel gears.
By this configuration, when the rotational shaft is rotated in the forward direction, one of the plates is rotated while the other plate is not rotated due to operation of the one-way clutch, thereby dispensing the coins of one denomination by the rotation of the one plate.
On the other hand, when the rotational shaft is rotated in the reverse direction, one of the plates is rotated in the reverse direction and as a result, the coins of the aforementioned dimension are not dispensed. At the same time, the other plate is rotated in the forward direction due to operation of the one-way clutch, thereby dispensing the coins of another denomination.
This means that in the case where the coins of two denominations are to be dispensed, the shaft is rotated in the forward direction to dispense one denomination of the coins and thereafter, the shaft is rotated in the reverse direction to dispense the other denomination of the coins. Thus, the coin dispensing operations for the plurality of denominations are performed in series.
As a result, with the safe apparatus as the third prior art technique, there is a problem that a predetermined number of the coins of the predetermined denominations are unable to be dispensed quickly.
Moreover, the count of the rotary disks that can be driven by a single driving motor is two and therefore, two driving motors are required for dispensing the coins of four denominations. This means that there is a problem that decreasing the mounting capacity or volume necessary for the safe apparatus is not easy and reducing the fabrication cost thereof is limited.